2018 GHDR Review 7

This is my November checkin for my 2018 GHDR as I am following Dave Seah’s masterful plan. Actually, I’m not following it very well since I failed to do a checkin in September or October.

As Dave says in his post, the 11-11 review has an end of days sort of feel to it. Boy, does it. I am not feeling optimistic right now. In August, I was excited and hopeful about the future because our move was finally wrapping up - we had our furniture, and I thought I was on to getting settled into some kind of a routine. Well, I think I did that, I’ve definitely gotten into a routine, but it is not as efficient or as in line with my goals as I feel like my routines were before the move.

I feel overall disconnected, unhealthy, and so so tired. It is all not how I want to be. I have got to turn this ship around.

See how sparse my trackers are becoming? At least they are pretty. This is August (green watermelons), September (purple blackberries), October (red apples), and November to now (yellow brown Rilakkumma).

Reminder of my 2018 Goals

My resolutions for the year broadly fall into categories: [H]Health, [F]Friends and family, [I]Intention, [M]Money, and [E]Engagement.

• I resolve to eat food that makes my body happy [H]
• THIS WAS MARKED FOR DELETION IN AUGUST - DECIDED NOT TO DELETE BECAUSE FRIENDS ARE GOOD I resolve to regularly go to the gym with friends [H,F]
• I resolve to run or walk intentionally at least 4 times per week[H]
• I resolve to do one thing with friends or family every month [F]
• I resolve to conduct a weekly review session where I summarize what I’ve done and how I’ve felt about it and where it is taking me [I]
• I resolve to conduct a monthly review of my progress on these goals [I]
• I resolve to make some kind of income and track it each month [M]
• I resolve to stay engaged and contribute to the communities that I have found [E]

and in February, I added

• I resolve to do one thing with each member of my family individually every month [F]

What I did the last ~month~ 3 months

With my new bullet journal and its pretty monthly pages, I have done fairly well with tracking since August, when I had noted that I had fell off the tracking wagon.

• [H]ealth: I’ve been doing okay on food, but I’ve been eating more sugar than I should. I went to the gym with friends for a yoga class (exactly once). I ran a half marathon in October, and I was running pretty regularly before that - after, not so much. Even walking has declined - it is mostly cold and wet and dark, and Cupcake is a mess. I know, excuses won’t make it better Thankfully, walking/running/gym is one of the things that is a recent escapee from my regular life, and I think I can get it back in.
• [F]riends and family: Absolutely lame. My goal was to do one thing with friends or family every week and one thing individually with each member of my family each month. Technically, I’ve driven each of the kids around to things separately, ah, those bonding car rides but that is IT. Old man and I have gone out to dinner. The only bona fide thing I can think of is that I was going to coffee with friends every week before I started working, and I joined and participated in a book club. Yay! Some real connection with people.
• [I]Intention: Reflection is still an inconsistent practice, and unfortunately my meditation time has now also become inconsistent. That is especially hard for me to say because I know it was good for me, and I managed to keep it up until I started working. I laugh a little that I planned to restart my weekly reviews last time I did a major review in August, but I absolutely did not.
• [M]Money: Gifts Done is still growing! Also, I started a little digital image business called Social Majik Designs to sell some of the kinds of backgrounds, transparencies, and text stickers that people have wanted me to make for their social media. It is moving very slowly. Also, I got a real job. This might be the only facet of my resolutions where things are looking up.
• [E]Engagement: I have been absent from some communities, and I miss those people. I’m an inconsistent voice in others - popping in every week or so to checkin.

Insights

Over the past few months, I’ve learned more about myself. In some ways, I’m growing in the direction that I would like, but in others, I am not. When I make myself pull the threads of why, I get answers that I don’t like.

I am not as effective at putting my own goals front and center as I would like. I have noticed that I consistently put other things first that leave me scrambling to pull time together. Most of the things that I want to do for the long term future require focused effort of at least several hours together, like rebasing the code to make Gifts Done more efficient or building a mobile application that will make it easier for customers and suppliers. However, many of the things that I want to do for me right now do not take a lot of time. I should be able to find 20 minutes for meditation, walking, running, or an hour to hit the gym. I am not sure exactly how I will advocate more for my own goals within my own head, but I think that is what I need to do. Or, I need to develop a rigid plan and stick to it.

Also, I am completely wrapped up in my dog. The Amazing Cupcake has not been well in over a month. Late in September, she started bleeding from her nose. They are still not sure what is wrong with her - we got respiratory infection, rat poison, some other kind of infection, pancreatitis, etc. She has been on three rounds of antibiotics, k1, probiotics, acid reflux treatment, etc. She is now headed to the veterinary research hospital at WSU later this month. I have been up with her several times a night most nights as she wanders around outside, and part of me is always worried about her. Sadly, her mystery illness started just a month or so after we lost our cat Phoebe. So much pet sadness here.

Looking forward

I have no rosy picture to foretell. I must find a way to wrestle a little peace back into my mornings. I must get my dog healthy. I must get my butt to the gym or outside. I would be happy with slightly better progress and connections next month.